Brace Yourself
by truephan
Summary: Before PP. An innocent phase of teenhood becomes a sinister scheme to doom Danny and his friends.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, again DP phans! You have made my dreams come true! I have written a few DP stories over the past year, but I was disheartened, because I was nervous about showing them to anyone. And I didn't think I could ever find anyone to appreciate or enjoy them. Until I found you and this website! Thank you for all your support! Now, for your reading pleasure****, a trip away from all the angst****, here is my new story. I hope you like it as much as my first, "Bewerewulfed". But **_**remember**_**, they are short because they were originally teleplays. I did my best to extend them, but I didn't want to lose the original dynamics. So sit back and enjoy this light-hearted ride! Spoiler: If you haven't read "Be-werewulfed", some of this might not make any sense. Danny has acquired a new power—wulf claws—in that story. If you want to know how, please feel free to take a look at it!! But if you aren't able to read that story, then just accepted the referred "fact" as true!! BTW: I do not own any characters and hats-off to 'crazyvi". She's got another twist of this story with her very own, "Bad Braces". Check it out, and no, I did not read hers before I wrote this story.**

Brace Yourself

(A shock you can smile about!)

Chapter 1

Danny Fenton wakes from a restless night. His raven hair in disarray, and his blue-eyes not quite bright, he stumbles out of bed. He can't shake how awful he feels right now and heads toward the mirror hanging over his bureau. What he sees there makes him scream in terror.

Suddenly, his two friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, who are meeting up with him to walk to school, barge into his room, take one look at him and scream in terror, too. Then Sam and Tucker look at each other, scream, and laugh hysterically.

"It's not funny, guys!" says Danny, clearly annoyed.

His voice taking an exaggerated haunting tone, Tucker comments, "Geez, man, you're scaring us to death with those, eewwww, b-b-b-r-r-a-c-e-s!!" He doesn't admit that he is relishing this rare opportunity to mercilessly tease his friend.

Danny fires a small green ray bolt at Tucker, zapping his oppressor in a place that makes it clear to Tucker that Danny does not appreciate his point. The impact of the jolt not only rearranges Tucker's priorities, but also skews his glasses and beret.

Tucker, adjusting himself and yelling in pain, utters, "C'mon, Danny, it's not our fault! How come you didn't tell us you were getting braces?"

Danny, still irritated, retorts, "'Cause I didn't know I was getting them, either! Maybe my teeth are a little crooked, but I think I look OK. At least, I thought I looked OK. But, then, out of the blue, this kooky new dentist came into town and showed up at our house, drumming up business. He convinced my parents that I needed the braces, and, well, here I am!"

Sam pipes in, indignant, "And you didn't object? I refuse to wear those crummy dresses my mother is always buying me and so far—ta-da--..." She pauses to 'model' her _goth_ outfit, and with her violet eyes gleaming with triumph, adds, "…I'm winning!"

Danny, who continues to inspect his braces in the mirror, frowns, and the look **that **makes is even more frightening with his unwanted new feature. Now fretful instead of angry, he strains to remember how he got these, these **things** on him. He blurts out, "That's the really weird part. I was going to protest and then I really got worried because my 'ghost sense' went off right before I went into the dentist room, but it's all kind of a blur now. In fact, it all kinda went dark after I went in."

Struck by an idea, Tucker interrupts, "You mean, you fainted?"

"No!" Danny emphasizes, reverting back at being peeved. "I mean, well, I don't remember what happened." And then pointing to the braces, he continues, "But there they are!" He turns back to look in the mirror and adds, "And, worse yet, why did they have to be green?"

"To match your ectoplasmic energy?" Tucker offers.

Danny glares threateningly at Tucker, and Tucker ducks behind Sam for cover.

Sam, lost in thought after hearing Danny's story, becomes concern and replies, "I don't like the look of that!"

Danny, looking at his reflection again, agrees, "Yeah, I don't like the way they look, either."

Exasperated, Sam says, "I don't mean the **braces**! I mean how they got there! I think we should go see that dentist…What's his name?"

Danny, still struggling to recall the events at the dentist's office, offers, "I think his name was…Geez! Why is it so hard to remember?...What a minute! Now I remember! I think his name was…Dr. Elvis Gould, or something like that."

Tucker laughs, "You let a dentist named 'Elvis' touch your teeth?

Danny answers him with a small green stinging ectoplasmic zap.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I do not own any characters. Here is Chapter 2. I think it says it all about the situation so far, but I couldn't make it any longer. Sorry. Hope you enjoy. **

Brace Yourself—Chapter 2

Later that morning, Danny, Sam and Tucker are walking down the hallway of their school, Casper High. Danny tries hard to conceal his mouth, but for all his efforts, he is painfully obvious. He tries to keep his mouth closed so tightly, it is unnatural, and even downright scary, bidding many nearby anxious students to steer very clear of him as they pass.

Suddenly, a book comes flying out of nowhere and hits Danny in the back of his head. Livid, he turns around and unconsciously opens his mouth, revealing his braces, which are not only bright green, but are also now glowing eerily and reflectively. Sam and Tucker gasp at the sight. But Danny does not notice their reaction. Instead, Dash is at the receiving end of Danny's glare—and glaring teeth.

At first startled by the intensity of Danny's scowl and mouth, Dash quickly recovers and taunts, "Well, what do you know? Fen-tony's mouth **is** full of garbage! Hey, can you get any great radio stations with all those wires?"

All the students witnessing the scene laugh at Danny except for Sam and Tucker. Danny, though furious, says nothing and stomps away, tightening his lips even more unnaturally. Sam and Tucker helplessly follow him into their next class, which, of course, is Mr. Lancer's class.

Mr. Lancer clears his voice and opens his book. "Now, class, it's time to turn to Chapter 2, which deals with the mysterious force of electricity."

"Mr. Lancer," Dash begins innocently. "Doesn't electricity flow through wires?"

"Why, yes, Mr. Baxter. That's a good observation!"

"And, doesn't electricity make things like light bulbs or radios work?" Dash continues, and Danny perks up, suspecting something.

"Yes, my, you are on top of the subject!"

Then Dash lets Danny have it. "Then we can sure save a lot and plug right into Fenton, who has the whole power station right there in his mouth!"

The class and Mr. Lancer laughs. Sam and Tucker frown.

"Of, course," Danny sighs and retightens his lips even more unnaturally.

After enduring a day of taunting stares and snickering whispers, which, of course, are instigated and fueled by Dash, Danny is relieved that school has ended, at least for today. He joins Sam and Tucker outside the school.

As they walk away from the school and toward the school field, Danny moans, "This is the worst day of my life, and it's only Monday!"

Sam tries to cheer him. "Danny, lots of kids get braces. It's really no big deal. Just because Dash has it out for you doesn't mean that having braces is a bad thing. Try to think of them as an initiation rite of 'teenhood'."

Danny dryly retorts, "You mean, 'an initiation rite of '**tease-**hood'!"

All of a sudden, a football comes flying out of nowhere and hits Danny in the back of the head. He turns around, incensed. But this time, not only do his eyes change from sapphire blue to intense green, but his braces also fervently flare up more than they did the first time. Sam and Tucker gasp as they shield their eyes from the glare of Danny's braces.

Excitedly, Tucker blurts out, "Danny! Your braces! They're changing again. Maybe you **should **try to get a radio station to come in!" And then catching himself, he quickly adds, "Erm, I mean, that can't be right!"

Sam, obviously more and more worried over the situation, adds, " You're right, Tucker. This **is** really weird. Even with all the new techno stuff they use with braces, this is nothing like anything I've ever seen or heard about. How about you guys?" The boys shake their heads, and she especially pays attention to Tucker's response. She concludes, "Then, don't you think **now** would be a great time to check out this 'Dr. Gould'?!"

Both of her friends agree, and they skirt toward town.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you for sticking with me and your kind reviews. And thank you for all your patience with the shortness of the first two chapters! I'm really trying to add to the original teleplay, but I also don't want to lose the momentum of the story. But with this chapter, ta-da, I've had success in adding to the original without losing the dynamics of the action! Here is Chapter 3. Hope you enjoy!**

Brace Yourself—Chapter 3

After a quick stop to Danny's home, Danny, Sam and Tucker finally arrive at Dr. Gould's office. At first, it was very difficult for them to find it, as Danny had not paid close attention to how he and his parents got there, and he was relying on a chicken-scratched receipt he got from home to get the address.

The building was tucked back in a deep alley that hardly anyone in Amity Park used. It had a faded address number on it. And the outside was very old, littered with cracked and missing bricks. With caked dirt covering part and the walls and cobwebs instead of drapes decorating the outside of the windows, three friends could see that it looked like a place that had been abandoned years ago.s.

"Your mother let you go in there?" Tucker gulps. "And worse yet, _**you **_let you go in there?"

"Yeah, Danny, it's not exactly aseptic!" Sam agrees. "Couldn't your parents see how filthy this place is?"

"Well, they didn't actually go in. My dad hates dentists and my mother spent the time right here trying to get him to go in. He wouldn't even let her turn him toward the front. So I guess they never saw it. But then I was going to be late for my appointment and so my mother sent me in. She told me later that they ended up sitting on that bench over there…" pointing to a bench several feet away and turned away from the entrance, "…until I came out. And as for me, well, I really didn't pay attention to the outside, as I was more nervous about the inside."

"And speaking of 'inside', we'll never know any more than this if we don't go in!" Sam declares.

They knock on the door. No one answers.

"Hello?" Danny asks, turning the doorknob. The door loudly creaks open, revealing a very darkened—but clean—room.

"This doesn't look so bad," Sam announces. "But where is everyone? It's still early."

Tucker stands at the doorway, shivering.

"Come on, Tuck. We won't leave you!" Danny says assuredly.

"That's what they all say." Tucker answers, unconvinced.

Both Sam and Danny drag their friend in. They poke around, dragging Tucker all the way.

After a few moments, Tucker, intent on trying to get out of there as soon as possible, says to Danny, "Are you sure this is the right place?"

Danny stops as Sam goes on ahead. Turning to Tucker, and becoming slightly irritated, he replies, "Tucker, my twisted mouth hasn't twisted my memory! I know this is the place! Let's keep looking! I didn't get to spend any time in this waiting room, because they took me into the back right away!"

Meanwhile, Sam has wandered to a dark corner near the reception desk. She gasps and calls to the others. "Uh, guys, look what I found!"

The boys join her and the trio gulp when they see the sign: _Dr. Elvis Ghoul, DDS. Established 1919._

Tucker quips, " You let a dentist named Elvis GHOUL touch your teeth?"

Ignoring him, Danny exclaims, "That's why my 'ghost sense' went off! That dentist must have been a ghost! But why should he care whether I have braces or not?"

"Maybe his back office will give us a clue," Sam answers. She opens the door—of course, another creaking one—and leads the way into a totally different area.

"Where are all the lights?" Danny comments as he charges up a ball of green energy from his hand. He gasps at the state of the dank room.

"_**You**_ let yourself come in here?" Tucker gulps again. "I mean, this place looks like it's never been cleaned! I didn't know that a room could have this much dirt and cobwebs!"

Coughing on the dust he's stirred up, Danny says, irritated, "It did seem a little dim when I first came in, but I like I said, I don't remember much about it all after I got past the door. And of course I wouldn't have stuck around if I saw it looked like this!"

As they scope out the room, they find lots of old, rusted dental equipment. Suddenly feeling sick and pointing to some very wicked looking equipment, Tucker stammers, "You don't think he used those on you, do you?"

Danny, now also looking a little peaked, answers, "I don't want to even think about it! Keep looking!"

"For what?" Tucker whines.

"I don't know! Something!" Danny insists.

Tucker moves on, both enthralled and sickened by the old equipment. But because he's not looking where he's going, he stumbles over something.

Coughing on even more dust he has stirred during his fall, he yells, "Hey, these certainly don't belong here!"

At the same time, Sam has located a small light and she turns it on. Tucker jumps at the sudden brightness, but then quickly picks up the objects. Danny and Sam come over to inspect the set of radar-goggled binoculars and a large dart.

Danny, excited that he's beginning to remember, blurts out, "Those belong to Skulker! He must be behind this!" Suddenly, with a flash of memory, Danny starts to rub his behind. He adds, while rubbing, "And why do I have a feeling that **my** behind also has something to do with it?"

Without warning, Danny's breathes ice-cold breath and an evil laugh echoes throughout the room as Skulker materializes, floating high above their heads. Danny's eyes instantly change to green and his braces blaze an even more dazzling green. He completes his transformation into Danny Phantom, and soars into the air, ready to do battle with Skulker as Sam and Tucker helplessly stand by.

But just as Danny is about to attack, Skulker pushes a button on his arm battle gear and the braces jolt the teen with electricity. Sam and Tucker gasp.

"Eeeyowwww!" Danny screams in pain, and falls to the ground, momentarily incapacitated.

Skulker smugly boasts, "They work perfectly! Well, for now, as long as you're in range, or until I can figure out how to fix that part. But at least, you won't be able to hide from me, Ghost Child! Those braces are made of special ghost wiring! Of course, I especially designed them with you in mind. And when they're activated, courtesy of that spitfire anger of yours or if I push this button…," He demonstrates, causing the braces to glare, "…they glow, and emit ghost radio waves so that I can home into your whereabouts whenever I want!"

Tucker impulsively blurts out, "So you **can** pick up some great stations!"

Ignoring him, the Ghost Hunter continues, "And how about that other little feature? It sure is a shock you can smile about, isn't it?" He snickers at his own joke.

Before Skulker can react, Danny recovers and charges with a counterattack. "Well, then," he yells, "let's see how it bites!"

Danny pours all his ectoplasmic energy from both of his hands and propels Skulker through the wall. But the armored ghost quickly returns, and activating a hidden gun from his battle suit, blasts rays all over the place, barely missing Sam and Tucker.

Danny's friends scream and jump for cover behind the dentist chair, just as the young hybrid zaps Skulker again, sending him into a table full of the old dental tools.

"Eee-yow!" the older ghost yells, and quickly regaining his balance, whips out another large gun and shoots, slamming Danny into the wall.

Danny groans, momentarily stunned, then instinctively struggles to get back up.

"Now I have you, Ghost Child!" the Ghost Hunter sneers in delight now that he thinks he has the advantage. He takes aim at his prey.

But then, Sam, incensed by the Ghost Hunter's intentions, grabs a particularly large and grotesque looking piece of dental equipment and charges toward Skulker, ready to do her part in protecting Danny.

Alarmed at her actions, Tucker screams, "Sam, no!" Without hesitating and not longer thinking about all his angst in being in a dentist office now that his friends are in trouble, he runs after Sam, trying to pull her back to safety.

"Oh, no!" Danny gasps as Skulker now takes aim at the charging Sam and, inadvertently, at the charging Tucker. Danny instantly produces a large mass of ectoplasmic energy and hurls it at Skulker, knocking the gun out of the huge ghost's hands, and sending it toward the wall. The impact shatters the gun to smithereens. The force of the attack also throws Skulker to the floor.

But before Danny can continue in his attack, Skulker immediately pushes the button on his arm battle gear, which sends the Ghost Child reeling in pain from his braces. Danny falls from mid-air into another table full of old dental tools.

Sam and Tucker stop abruptly in their tracks and helplessly look on the scene

Panting with pain and desperation, the boy becomes invisible. _'Hey, what's going on?'_ He says to himself, now rattled with disbelief. _'I can **still **see the glare of my braces! In fact, they're glowing even brighter now! So, then,…**he** must be able to still see them…and me!'_

Releasing the button and laughing evilly, Skulker yells, "Like I said, you can't hide from me, Ghost Child! Dr. Ghoul is the best dentist in the Ghost Zone!"

Bewildered, Tucker utters, "Ghosts need dentists?"

Skulked, continuing to keep his sights on Danny, continues, "Yes, urchin, we do! But we need to be knocked out first. Which is why I was standing behind the door when you came into Dr. Ghoul's office, Ghost Child. Knowing you would have put up a fight, I darted you right away. Dr. Ghoul's work on you is his best so far!"

Though not fully recovered from his last electrical shock, Danny glares at Skulk and fiercely accuses, " So you **were** behind my aching behind!"

But as Danny struggles to muster another attack, Skulker whips out another ray gun from his arm battle gear and fires, hitting Danny squarely, and knocking the teen hybrid out cold. Instantly, the still boy reverts to his human form.

"Leave him alone!" Sam and Tucker both say, and reaching for even more grotesque looking dental tools, they charge at Skulker, attempting to protect their helpless friend. But Skulker merely zaps them too, and now all three friends lay unconscious at Skulker's feet.

Inspecting his haul, Skulker chuckles with evil intent. "Hmmm…these other two whelps might prove useful after all." He scoops the threesome up at once, turns intangible, and soars into the sky.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you for your reviews! And especially, Wolfinson, who helped me see how important the POV is. Thanks! And why do I find myself saying, 'I do not own any characters?' Oh well, here is Chapter 4. And, oops, I did it again! I was able to add to the original without compromising the dynamics of the action and suspense! I'm especially curious on your opinion. Hope you enjoy!**

Brace Yourself—Chapter 4

Danny Fenton groggily regains consciousness. He sits up, quickly noticing the rusty chains rattling around his legs. Scanning all around him, he immediately recognizes the very familiar landscape. He groans, "Just great!" He looks around and sees the large, lava spewing volcano way over in the distance. He knows that the smelly, murky swamp is also not too far away in the other direction. And all of it, of course, is surrounded by a thick, foreboding jungle. He thinks, _"This is definitely not good. Skulker brought me to his lair!"_

He again grabs the chains around his legs and pulls on them. He is immediately suspicious because they don't seem to be very strong at all. Wondering about that, he suddenly notices something else. His arms are not shackled but something else is on his arm instead. _"Hey! What's this?"_ He inspects the glowing orange band around his right wrist. He pulls on it and **it** feels very strong. "_What does this thing do? Uh-oh, I've got a **bad feeling** about this. And Skulker's making it seem way too easy. That can't be good!"_

His head beginning to clear, Danny quickly wills the bluish-white rings to appear. They engulf him, transforming him into Danny Phantom. He instantly zaps the chains and orange band. The chains are destroyed, but the orange band remains.

Inspecting himself again, Danny says out loud, "Well, at least it looks like I still have my powers…" And then foggily remembering all that has happened to him, he puts his hand to his mouth, feels the braces and utters, "…Or at least some kind of defense anyway."

Suddenly, his thoughts come into sharp focus at his last memory. His heart racing and his senses on high alert he blurts out loud, "Sam!? Tucker?! Where are they? He better not have done anything to them! And,…oh, man!" He then gasps at the unexpected appearance of his 'ghost sense'.

An echoing evil laugh answers him and Skulker rematerializes directly above Danny. Skulker, smug as ever, says, "So that's what those other two urchins are named? Hmm…I thought there was a girl and a boy, not two boys…Oh, well, they're all right…for now."

Danny, posing for attack and with his braces now blazing, angrily hisses, "Where are they? What have you done to them?"

Skulker laughs in delight and says, "Oh, this is going to be good sport! You'll be motivated in the hunt! And while you're hunting for your friends, I'll be hunting you! If I win, you all lose. If you win…well, who says that's a possibility?" He emphasizes his point by pushing the button on his arm battle gear again. Danny immediately screams in pain and falls to his knees as his braces again jolt him.

Skulker, smirking as Danny pants, continues, "Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? But still, I'll give you a little head start, or should I say, a 'tooth start'?" He laughs at his own joke, and again reaches for the button on his arm gear.

But this time, Danny reacts quickly and speeds away, luckily out of the range of the device, for now.

"I've got to find them before Skulker gets to me," He says, clenching his teeth in determination. "Ow!" He yells, holding his sore clenched teeth. "Maybe a little less grit and more looking would be a better idea."

As he penetrates the deepest part of the jungle that engulfs Skulker's lair, he searches frantically for his friends. But after a while, he slows, unconsciously touching his braces. He winces and moans, "I've got to stop a minute. Geez, my teeth are still throbbing from when that jerk last zapped me. Sure gives 'toothache' a whole new meaning…And his zapping is zapping me of my energy. I can't believe that I'm all ready getting tired!...I've got to get these off of me, but first, I've got to find Sam and Tucker! Skulker must have figured out a way to make them tangible here, or he wouldn't be so sure of himself…"

"Wait a minute!" He exclaims as an idea strikes him. "I just wonder…" He looks at his glowing orange wristband and reverts back to his human side. He then walks to a nearby tree and pushes on it. His hand doesn't phase through the tree at all! "That must be how he did it!" he announces, instantly smacking his forehead as he figures it out. But what he didn't figure is that the vibration from that hit to his forehead would vibrate down to his teeth. Wincing in pain, he yells, "Oww!", and reflexively holds his mouth again. "I can't believe they still hurt whether I'm ghost or human! But it won't matter either way if Skulker gets me!"

With that last thought, he transforms himself back into Danny Phantom and takes off, determined more than ever to find his friends.

But he finds it harder to hurry as the jungle thickens. Vines and tree branches claw at him as he pushes forward. Cobwebs cling to him, and strange ghost animals scurry in fear away from him. And as the canopy of the trees becomes more entangled, the heat and moisture rise and the ghost sunlight diminishes. Not that this isn't alarming enough. All kinds of eerie sounds pulsate throughout the jungle, and with every beat and thump, he becomes more apprehensive.

"Gee, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go **this **way…But, of course, my options were a little limited at the time." He wills a ball of light from his hands and tones its brightness down to the point where he can just barely see. "No telling what Skulker can detect with that suit of his. Better not take any more chances than I have to."

Suddenly, he hears a loud snap behind him. He stops and whirls around. "What the…?" He douses his light and strains for clues of the noise's source. All he hears is the same scary cackles. "I guess it's nothing. Being in this freakin' jungle is getting me, well, freaked. But I better keep going without any light for a while, just in case something is following me." And he continues his laboriously slow flight.

But this, of course, doesn't seem to be doing him any good. He slows and drifts forward slightly. "Darn it! Going this way without light is getting me nowhere! Each murky shadow looks just like the next! Besides, I haven't heard any more creepier sounds than the usual creepy ones since I got in here! I can't be wasting all this time! Maybe I could risk a little bit of light again."

But before he charges the light, the area in which he is in changes abruptly.

It is no longer just hot, dark and moist. 'Now what?' He thinks, still hesitant to use some light. The hackles on back of his neck stand up as his mind unexpectedly races with a heightened awareness of all his senses. 'Man, is it me, or is it getting hotter? And where did all this steam come from? Skulker does come up with some crazy ideas. But a sauna? Right in the middle of his jungle? No way!... Ewww!! And just what is that awful smell? Makes me feel like retching! And why can't I hear all those spooky jungle noises anymore? What's with that? Compared to this deafening nothingness, the din of the jungle is beginning to sound downright homey!'

Then, where he is suddenly **moves**! "What the…?" The boy utters, his senses reeling after being thrown backward by the jerking motion. He instinctively charges his light, no longer thinking about Skulker. He cannot believe what he sees! He is in some sort of cave, or is it?

'Caves aren't red inside, are they?' The young teen asks himself, then urgently adds, 'Don't know for sure about that, but they're definitely not gooey and don't have big purple stringy slimy things moving right **toward **you!'

The ghost hybrid wills a ball of ectoplasmic energy from his hands and blasts at the tentacles grasping at him. And just as he sees that all but one of them has been destroyed, the cave shifts again, ramming him into the wall. Momentarily stunned, Danny isn't ready for the remaining appendage charging at him until he is fully wrapped in it. 'Great!' He thinks, resisting the gag and the rest of the restraints. 'That is the only sense I hadn't experienced with this thing and I could have waited for that for the rest of my life, 'cause it **tastes **worse than it smells! Now I **know **I'm going to hurl!'

He concentrates with all his might and a freezing ray emanates from his body, followed by a large orb of his plasma energy, which shatters the tentacle. Suddenly, the 'cave' heaves violently and at first Danny is pulled one way then the other. Before he can resist, he hears a booming bellow and is attacked from behind. Now covered with yellowish-gray goo, he is then thrusted forward and finally finds himself slammed into the ground. But this time, the air feels different. A soft wind is cooling against the slime on his face. And the familiar racket of the jungle resounds in his ears. And the smell is not as putrid.

Suddenly, he again hears another booming bellow directly behind him, and managing to free his hand enough from the slime to beam a light ray toward the sound, sees that the 'cave' he was in is actually is some kind of giant grotesque ghost frog-thingy.

With one more look at the creature that had soured its stomach, the frog-thingy belches and bounds away, crashing into the night.

"Oh, gross!" Danny groans, looking down at himself and realizing what happened. "It beat me to the hurling!"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I do believe in not owning characters. This chapter, is a little on the dark side for me. It may not seem like it's bad to you, but since I'm a fun-loving kind of person, I think it's a little dark. And this part of the previous and the next chapter are all together new to me and were never in the original teleplay, so I'm especially curious about your opinion. Now it's time for Chapter 5. Enjoy!**

Brace Yourself—Chapter 5

Struggling to free himself from the yellowish-grey vomi…erm, stuff, Danny knows he has to get out of this jungle. "I don't know if Skulker would be crazy enough—well, I hope he's not crazy enough—to put Sam and Tucker as far in here as I am, but no matter what, it's not doing them any good to have me lost in here!"

Finally, he frees himself from the goop with the help of a double barrel shot of plasma rays from both of his hands. But to his dismay, scraps of the ooze still cling to him, including….

"Phtew! I can't seem to get that stuff out of my mouth! I don't think they make enough mouthwash to make me forget this taste!"

He makes a quick effort to wipe it off or spit it out, depending, of course, of where it is, but he knows he doesn't have the time to worry about it. But what he doesn't know is that he should have worried about it. As he lifts off the ground to retrace his path out of the jungle, it becomes very obvious that his flight is hampered even more than before. The tree branches, vines and cobwebs clutch at him more firmly because of the goo and even just hovering over the ground causes the same problem. He has no choice but to land and walk, for now.

As the teenager trudges along, he debates whether to energize his light or not. "I don't know why Skulker hasn't discovered me yet…I'm going as slow as a slug! And so far, I don't think he's detected any of the light, 'cause I'm sure he would have been here by now…Hey! Speaking of 'light', my braces haven't been glowing for a long time! I was way too busy when I was in the belly---eeyeww!—of that frog-thing to notice, but they certainly aren't even flickering now! Maybe, somehow, they don't work well in every place and, of course, I might have been out of range. But the 'no glowing' thing certainly doesn't reek!"

He decides on the light. But after several minutes of barely lit drudgery, intermixed with more frequent bizarre screams from the jungle, Danny gets bogged down again. "Darn it! That's all I need! Something sticking to my mouth and lots of something sticking to my feet! I don't have time for this!" He stops and zaps the decaying leaves and sticks that are stuck to his boots. He continues on, only to have to stop and repeat the same thing over and over again. "Enough of this!" The boy finally says, exasperated. Instead of stopping, he lifts one foot, zaps it clean and hops on the other so that he can both save time and keep moving. "Not a bad idea, Fenton!" He says, quite pleased with himself.

But this, he soon finds, is really not a good idea. In another attempt to hop on one foot while cleaning the other, he trips and is ensnarled in a waiting net, which flings him high into the air and then slowly yo-yos to a halt, making an odd clicking sound with each bounce. "Smart move, Fenton!" He dryly chides himself. Before he can fully power up his energy to break free, he hears an even louder 'click' as his final shift in weight triggers a, well, trigger. That was the last thing he remembered for a long time.

"Uh, huh?" Danny groans as his eyes slowly focus. His heart jumps when he feels something wet on his chest. "Did I get hurt?" He frets, but then utters a "Gross!" when he notices the purple goo still oozing down his chest. He tastes his mouth and remarks, "Well, that little knock-out whatever helped me to drool all that gunk out of my mouth! Well, let's not waste any more time, Fenton, and get out of here! No telling how long you've been out of it!"

The young hybrid powers up his ectoplasmic energy, which quickly engulfs him and then bursts outward, destroying the net. Fortunately, that eradicated the rest of the ooze on his body. Unfortunately, his braces begin to glow.

"Oh, no! Now what do I do?" He panics, and try as he might, he still cannot fly any faster because of all the overgrowth. Suddenly, a piercing scream blasts right in front of him. He halts then skirts backward, barely dodging the hideous creature that pounces at him. The crash it makes just ahead of the boy is answered by several red blasting rays, which hit the beast squarely. It scampers away, yelping as it desperately tries to escape more punishment.

"He's here!" Danny freaks, his 'ghost sense' on high alert. And before his next move, electricity pulses through his braces and he falls to the ground in pain.

" I…can't…let…him…get...any…closer...to…me!" The ghostboy pants. He forces himself to get up and dash from the area where the beast had been shot. But then another jolt sears through his mouth and he screams. Gasping for breath, his strength waning from the pain, he thinks, 'I'd better do something now or else he'll have a field day having me in range again!' But then he hears the sound of the Ghost Hunter's rockets growing louder and he panics again.

"There!" He wills himself to focus, looking at a large rock ahead. "Go there, **now**!" The boy dives behind it just as a blast disintegrates where he had been. But he soon dreads this decision, because there is **no ground** behind the rock and he falls head first down into a large pit. Quickly trying to soar back upward, a trap door slams tight, cutting off his escape. He instantly fires at the door with his energy rays, but they merely ricochet off.

"It's no use, Ghost Child, I have you!" Skulker announces triumphantly, his voice muffled by the trap door. "That pit is ghost proof, so you might as well give up! And until I decide on what to do with you, I'm going to check on your friends, that is, if there are friends still left to check on!" He sneers, then adds, "And in the meantime, chew on this for a while!" He activates the button, sending shock waves into Danny's mouth, and as a result, the boy pummels downward in pain.

After Danny crashes into the bottom of the black pit, he lies momentarily stunned. "Suck it up, and get up!" He finally commands, and sitting up, he anxiously groans, "I…I can't believe it! I've totally screwed up! Sam and Tucker were depending on me and I failed them!" He places one hand over his eyes, trying to hold back his emotions. After several moments of mounting despair, and just when he is about to give up, he hears something. "What is that?" He strains to hear again. "It sounds like water, and lots of it!"

He charges up a ball of light and walks over to the wall where he heard the sound. "It sounds awfully close…as if the wall isn't too thick…So, maybe you haven't checked on this pit for a while, right, Skulker?"

He wills his wulf claws from his hands and attempts to puncture the wall with them, but the claws don't even put a dent in them. Now beginning to freak, he screams, "No way! I don't believe it! I've got to get out of here!" And when his braces blaze in response to his angry shout, he really loses it. He wildly fires his energy rays into the wall in desperation and fury. They ricochet back at him. He focuses his freeze rays on the same area, but they do not even adhere to the wall. Finally, his heart and breathing racing in rage, he uses his 'ghostly wail' and its clamor attacks only his ears. As his last ounce of strength ebbs, he wails, "That was my last chance!" Exhausted and crushed, he unwillingly reverts back to Danny Fenton. But in a last act of frustration and despair, he kicks the wall. This time, however, some of it crumbles!

Shocked at the unexpectant blow to the wall, his mind snaps to what Skulker had said, 'That pit is **ghost** proof…!' A ray of hope forming around his mouth, he thinks, "Ghost proof, no kidding! But **human **proof, no way! And thanks to Skulker, I'm fully human here!'

He wastes no more time thinking and attacks his cell with his entire **human **body and finally punctures a hole large enough for him to squeeze through. With the last of him emerging from the other side of his escape route, he transforms back into Danny Phantom and charges his light, surveying the area.

"Wow! An underground cave—and a **real** cave this time! And an underground river! That's the water I heard! Well, that river has to go somewhere, and anywhere but here is fine with me!" He soars toward the river and sees that it exits the cave through a hole just big enough to let the water pass through it. "And looks like 'anywhere' means 'underwater anywhere'. Well, I'm a good swimmer, and I do have a little 'ghostly' advantage, too." But then he glances down at the water and notices that his braces are beginning to flicker again. "Oh, no! Time to go! Don't want the big jerk to know too soon that I've escaped from his stupid pit!"

He instantly dives into the river, and it dutifully sweeps him away from the cave. And unbeknownst to the young hybrid, his braces are no longer glowing.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Happy Memorial Day!! And just to celebrate, since I have a lot of time today (yeah!!), I'm adding Chapter 6 a little earlier than planned. And repeat after me: "I do not own any characters, I do not…." Ah-hem, well, here is Chapter 6. It was not in the original, so please let me know what you think of it. Enjoy!**

Brace Yourself—Chapter 6

As he is pushed along the river, all the while being underwater, Danny argues with himself, 'Will this passageway ever end? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all….Well, as if I had a better one at the time! How could I have known it was so long and narrow? Just because I've never been here before?! Right! So, get a grip!...But, then again, I don't know if I can stay underwater much longer!'

Finally, just as he thinks he can no longer hold his breath, he is rocketed outward from the water flume as it drops straight down into a fall. He coughs and catches his breath as he halts his own fall. "Whoa! What a rush!" He gasps. Surveying the area, and seeing that he is in a different, and less dense part, of the jungle, he adds, "This looks familiar. I must be close to where I first went into the jungle. That means I'm near the swamp! That would be a good place to begin to look for Sam and Tucker again. They certainly weren't anywhere near where I was just now. And I hope I got far enough away that I don't have to worry about Skulker breathing down my neck, for now. No telling how much time all this craziness has cost Sam and Tucker! I've got to find them no matter what!"

He flies low, keeping near the surrounding overgrowth for camouflage, thinking, _"Don't want Skulker to have an easy mark. It's a good thing, then, that I don't have to use any light."_

He begins to ease up a little now that his progress seems to be going smoothly. But then, he hears a bone-chilling shriek right behind him. He jerks around, but before he can react, a large ape-like creature charges at him and pins him to the ground.

"Get off me, you big hairy smelly creep!" The boy yells to the big hairy smelly creep.

The monster, of course, ignores him and growling threateningly, shoves its fangs closer to Danny's face.

"I've all ready had my share of putrid-smelling monsters and I don't want to even think about if I have to taste you, too! Aaarghh!" He shouts, charging himself and emitting a burst of energy from his entire body, repelling the creature.

But the beast does not yield and renews its attack.

"Oh, come on! Give me a break!" Danny groans.

Which precisely is what the creature does, as it swipes at the boy with its large forearms, and sends the teen into a tree, which breaks in two.

"I didn't mean it literally!' Danny yells back and soaring back at it, he shoots his ice rays at the beast and freezes it solid. Suddenly, he sees his braces beginning to glow in the ice's reflection. "Great! Now my efforts to stealth my way back are shot! I'm going to have to chance going through the thicker part of the jungle for now, even if it means running into more traps. That's **if** there are more traps…." And thinking like Skulker he dryly adds, "Yeah, there's gotta be more traps! Just **how does** he get the time to make them all? And speaking of 'time' I'm wasting too much of it! I'm getting more tired as each minute passes, and I still haven't even seen one clue of Sam or Tucker. Every moment has to count! So it's time to do just that!"

As he penetrates the jungle again, he decides to stay on the perimeter. "I don't want to use any light and I need to keep as quiet as possible. Skulker could have heard or even discovered that big hairy smelly frozen creep by now." Then scanning ahead, he murmurs, "I think I'm still headed for the swamp. It might be just beyond that clump of overgrowth ahead."

As the hybrid flies closer, he can see through a hole in the overgrowth that the swamp is no more than a football field length away. And the hole looks just large enough for him to pass through. "There it is!" He says excitedly, and increases his speed.

But the boy's over enthusiasm catches him off guard as he soars right through the hole and it instantaneously tightens around him before he clears it. Other vines quickly curl around his arms, hands and legs, securing them in the plant's grasp. "Urrgghh!" Danny yells, struggling to get free.

But his strength is not holding up as well as his will. Because of fatigue and the vine's wrapping around his hands and around his forehead to hold his head still, he cannot charge up his energy or use any of his ice rays. Infuriated, he screams, "I'm so sick of having to deal with all this! But why can't I break free?!" Then thinking like Skulker again, he anxiously guesses, "Maybe this plant has some kind of anti-ghost energy? That would explain why I can't blast it or get my hands free…But what can I do? With how wasted I'm getting, I know my human self won't have the strength to do any better."

He struggles physically and mentally against the plant's tightening grip. "At least it's not a talking plant. I know I'd just lose it if it shot off it's big mouth at me!" Then rolling his eyes and wincing at his next wild thought, he says, trying more to convince himself rather than form a plan, "Then I'll have to use what's left!"

He pulls against the plant creature with all the might in his entire body, loosing the vines enough so he can bend over and **bite **the largest vine that is around him. Ignoring the rancid taste, he bites it again, and is encouraged when it **reacts** to his unconventional attack and loosens its grip!

Taking full advantage of this opportunity, Danny yanks one of his hands free and produces his wulf claws. Not hesitating in the least, the boy lashes at the vines. Freeing his other hand, he adds more claws to the fight and doesn't stop until the vines are in shreds at his feet.

"Yuck!" He pants, finally having time to react to the taste in his mouth. "And I thought the frog-thingy tasted bad! And, of course, this has to be sticky too!" He tries to spit it out and is finally able to get most of it out. "It'll have to be enough. At this point, I'm going to have to be less cautious and more thorough in my search. I just hope I'm not too late!"

But searching every nick and cranny in Skulker's lair seems to take an eternity, and Danny stops, breathing heavily with fatigue._ 'This is so_ frustrating!' he cries to himself, '_I don't remember this place being this big! Now where…'_ Suddenly, several red ray beams barely miss him.

"Oh, great! He's found me again!" Danny blurts out, checking the reflection of the glare from his braces against his hand. "And I'm within range!"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I don't even think about owning the characters. This chapter is also a new one, and was never in the original teleplay, so I'm still particularly curious on your thoughts on it. Now, here is Chapter 7. Enjoy! Also, I'm reposting because something got jumbled up in the transmission.**

Brace Yourself—Chapter 7

The young hybrid, fearing an inevitable attack, darts behind a small scrub. But before he can settle into his hiding place, it is disintegrated by a large red mass of energy.

"Ha, ha!" Skulker calls out to his prey. "You can run, erm, _**fly**_, but you can't hide, Ghost Child!"

Danny makes every effort to dash behind every other nick and cranny for cover. But any attempt he makes is fruitless. As each moment passes, the braces glow more fiercely, and as they flare brighter, Skulker's shots get closer and more plentiful. And more accurate. No sooner does the teenager find what he thinks will be a good hiding place, then it is effectively destroyed by his foe.

Still, the boy can't help but think, _"I guess I should be glad that he has an unlimited supply of ammo because—and just **how is it** that he never seems to run out of all that stuff?—anyhow, it's better that he blast at me then use the 'mother of all toothaches' button on me! But then again, I don't want to hang around to give him the opportunity to do either!"_

Desperate, Danny soars through the air and makes a beeline toward the swamp. But this proves to be a bad move, because just as he thinks he's escaped, a large red ectoplasmic streak strikes him and he helplessly falls down, finally plunging into the swamp.

Surfacing and sputtering from the mire, Danny edges toward the shore. "I can't take much more of this! But I think I got far enough away so I can rest!" He pulls himself out of the water and falls forward. After a few moments of rest, he sits up and sees his reflection in the water. He gasps when the braces unexpectedly blaze. Shielding his eyes from the glare and partially covering his mouth, he groans, "Oh, no! In range again and nowhere to hide!"

He frantically scans for something, anything that might help and sees a bush not too far away. _"Get up, you have to get up! Don't let him get you! And don't let them down. They need you! Go, **now**!"_ He silently commands himself and mustering all his strength, he stumbles away from the swamp and toward the nearby bush. But again, this is no help, because no sooner has Danny reached the bush than another of Skulker's rays obliterates it.

"That's it! If this is the end, I'm taking you with me, you big creep!" Danny yells, exasperated but resolved to make this one last effort to escape his hunter before he is totally exhausted. He rapidly takes to the air, red rays blaring around him, and then promptly charges **toward** Skulker in a counterattack. He creates a large green ectoplasmic shield that, thankfully, refracts Skulker's discharges back at the older ghost. The ghost hunter jumps out of the way just as the refracted beams gouge out the ground on which he was just standing. But with lightening speed, the cyborg ghost pushes a button on his arm gear. Immediately, Danny is jolted with the pain blasting through his braces. Totally dazed and getting weaker, he falls toward the ground.

"Urrggghh! Please don't pass out! Don't pass out!" Danny screams to himself. "Get to the jungle! Just get there before you completely lose it," He demands, and steers himself toward the thickest part of the jungle again. Now momentarily hidden, but still within range, Danny lands roughly. Panting in pain and outspent, he knows he needs, but can't have, rest. He frets, _"Can't turn invisible or intangible because the braces will still betray me. Can't use my 'ghost wail' because I'm already exhausted. Can't use my wulf claws or ice beams because I don't want him to get close enough to zap me again. Looks like Skulker's really got me this time!"_

Suddenly, the snow-haired hybrid spies some jungle vines and has another wild idea, his mind racing with why his braces hadn't been glowing all the time and why Skulker hadn't found him sooner. Now more determined than ever, he blurts out, "But he hasn't gotten the best of me yet!"

He grabs one of the vines and ties it around his mouth. He rushes as fast as his tired legs can take him to a small pond nearby and peers down at himself. This time, however, when he goes invisible, he sees that his idea works! His braces are no longer glowing, but, more importantly, are no longer visible!

Just then, he hears a body crashing through the bushes behind him. Without hesitating, he dives behind a large rock. Sweating and holding his breath, he anxiously waits. The noise gets louder and louder and Danny sweats more profusely. Just when it seems as though Skulker will surely pounce on him, the hunter moves away. To his overwhelming relief, Danny knows that the vine has done more than hidden his braces. It has disrupted the signal to Skulker's tracking device!

Danny is safe, for now!

Now that he can finally rest and think, Danny keeps the vine over his tender mouth and leans against the rock. But he knows that he doesn't have much time to do both. Finally, satisfied that he's strong enough to go on, he silently urges himself. _'I've got to get going! I'm sure Sam and Tucker can't wait any longer!'_

He checks to see that the vine is secure, becomes invisible again, and soars upward, straining to spy anything that can give him a clue about his friends' whereabouts.

But he quickly decides that this plan isn't doing him any good, so he heads back down to the jungle. Landing near the swamp, he stops a moment, and says to himself, _'I'm going about this the wrong way! I have to search with a plan in mind, not all helter-skelter like this! --Well, of course, I sorta couldn't help all this reckless searching 'cause I'm also trying to keep away from Skulker.-- But there are no signs of either Sam or Tucker in any of this area. And I haven't been able to check the other side of the swamp yet. I'll start over there and then swing back toward the volcano, using the jungle for cover.'_ Sighing, he continues_, 'Sounds like a plan. At least, it's the best plan I can come up with for now, until I need to change it in a hurry!'_

He cautiously glides through the underbrush close to the swamp, and decides to hug the shoreline. Still seeing no sign of his friends, Danny penetrates further into the jungle on the opposite side of the swamp where he had plunged into earlier. He knows he can always double back and head toward the volcano if he doesn't see any clues.

Suddenly, he hears a cracking noise behind him. He stops and whirls around, and seeing nothing, turns and continues his flight. Again, he hears a fainter sound, but instead of stopping and turning, he merely glances back while still floating forward. Again seeing nothing, he tries to reassure himself, "Getting a little skittish from the last time, Fenton? Of course I am! I can't be too careful! I've only sprung the traps on the **other** side of the swamp, not this side yet!" But this distraction from where he's heading jerks him back when he almost runs into a trip wire. He stops in the nick of time and fortunately from him, the vine gags his gasp.

He carefully follows the trip wire and his heart leaps. There at the end of the wire is Tucker, bound and gagged and in a cage hanging over a pit of sharp spikes. His friend is safe, at least, for now!

Quickly Danny turns intangible, enters the cage, grabs Tucker and brings him to safety.

"Mmmphrh!! Mmmphrh!! " Tucker muffles, still bound and gagged.

"Mmmphrh!! Mmmphrh!!" Danny muffles back, and instantly realizing his mistake, pulls the vine off his mouth and gasps, "Tucker, are you all right?"

Realizing his mistake again, Danny pulls the gag off of Tucker. Tucker gasps, "I'm OK! Did you get Sam?'

"Not yet!" Danny responds.

Horrified, Tucker replies, "Oh, no! Skulker boasted about his plan to us! He figured that you only have time to get one of us out alive! She's on the other side of the island, at the volcano, and there's a candle and a string on a ray gun's trigger and…"

"Then let's go!" Danny insists, as he quickly zaps the bonds off of Tucker. Then Danny sees an identical glowing orange wristband on Tucker, and thinking about Skulker and now sure he is right, blurts out, "That's definitely how you did it!"

Tucker, confused, answers, "What did I do?"

"Never mind!" Danny says, "We got to get to Sam!"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I don't ever own any of the characters**.

Brace Yourself-Chapter 8

As Danny begins to grab Tucker to start their dash to the volcano, Tucker resists and feverishly cries, "Did I tell you that Skulker also put Sam over the lava pits? We don't have much time! So, go on without me! I'll just weigh you down!"

Danny, determined to save both of his friends insists, "I won't leave you here!"

Before Tucker can protest, Danny starts to bring the vine up to his mouth. But before he finishes, he answers Tucker's bewildered look, "I'll explain later. But first…"

And then adding more shock to Tucker's system, Danny trips the wire, which sends the cage Tucker had been in crashing to the sharp spikes below. The noise the cage makes while it is shredded to pieces is deafening.

Terrified, Tucker screams, "But that'll bring Skulker here!"

Danny replies, "That's what I'm betting on!"

He quickly finishes tying the vine around his mouth, grabs Tucker, makes them both invisible, and races off to the other side of the island. When he realizes that Tucker is indeed weighing him down, he concentrates harder, repeating to himself, 'I hafta go faster, I **must** go faster…'

And suddenly, for the first time, Danny reaches supersonic speed, much to Tucker's delight.

Tucker grins as he watches the ground whiz by.

Meanwhile, Sam, who is also bound and gagged, is suspended over the lava pits in a cage similar to the one that Tucker had been in.

'_Ohmygosh!'_ She sweats, and not only because of the intense heat. _'That candle over there has almost burned through the rope!'_ Her eyes follow the rope with dread, as she sees that that rope is keeping her cage from plummeting. And she gasps silently—because of the gag---and anxiously utters, _'As if that weren't bad enough! Of course, it would be burning through **another **rope. And of course, that rope would be **smaller** and on its last thread!'_ She forces her eyes to trace the path of this rope. She gulps when she realizes that when it finally burns through, it will activate a firing mechanism for the ray gun pointed directly at her.

Panicking, she struggles with her bonds, but they hold her firmly. She makes another effort, but then the force of her exertion causes one of the cords of the main rope to snap, inching her cage lower. She immediately stops her struggle. _'Looks like I'm a goner,'_ she fretfully thinks, and then, thinking of Danny, her eyes begin to well up. _'I wish you were here, so that I can tell you…_' But she doesn't finish, as her tears silently choke her.

Seeing that the cage where Sam is held is rapidly approaching them, Danny slows just enough to drop Tucker off in a safe clearing and supersonics over to Sam.

Sam sees the black and white blur headed toward her, and shrieks a muffled scream. _'What is **that**? Oh, no! Wasn't I in enough_ _trouble without having some monster attack me, too?'_ Forgetting about the rapidly deteriorating rope, she panics and grapples with her bonds, trying desperately to escape this newest danger. But for all her efforts, the cage and rope shift precariously, as the rapidly approaching creature charges at her. Closing her eyes, Sam thinks, '_I don't know what will be worst: to be vaporized, boiled or eaten!'_

Turning intangible, Danny grabs her, she screams a muffled scream and resists, but he pulls her even closer to him and soars away just in the nick of time as the ray strikes and the cage falls. He quickly descends with Sam to the other side of the clearing where Tucker is.

He zaps her bonds and pulls off her gag. She finally opens her eyes and clearly relieved that it's Danny and not a wild beast, embraces him and says, "Oh, Danny, it's you! I really thought that that was the end! I thought you were some sort of monster, because I've never seen you fly like that before!" She shudders at the thought again. "But I'm so glad that it's over! All the time I thought that I wasn't going to make it wasn't the worst part. It..it was the thought that I might not see you--or Tucker-- again!" They both smile in embarrassment. And then finally noticing the oddity of the vine, she adds, "Aren't you supposed to **swing **from one of those?"

"Mmmphrh!! Mmmphrh!!" Danny begins, then, irritated with himself for not remembering the darn thing, quickly yanks the vine off his mouth and continues, "You know how my braces were a homing device? That vine kept them from working! And, er, so did the frog goop!"

Sam skews up her face, at his last comment, and he adds, "I'll explain it later. Right now, you, me and Tu.."

"Tucker!" Sam screams.

Danny looks toward Tucker and sees that Skulker is aiming his ray gun right at his friend.

Totally flabbergasted, Danny asks Skulker, "But how did you know?"

Skulker smugly answers, "A hunter has his secrets. Now,…" He begins to pull the trigger of the ray gun and continues, "..**hi**_**s **_pelt is mine!"

Danny screams, "NO!" and instinctively supersonics over to them, getting between the ghost hunter and Tucker. Then, many things happen all at once: Skulker fires, hitting Danny right in the mouth. Danny is stunned by the impact, but his braces explode off of his teeth. And finally, what's left of them spray Skulker like bullets.

With Skulker momentarily distracted by the remnants of the braces, Danny forces himself up and taking a deep breath, assaults Skulker with his "ghostly wail", jettisoning Skulker far away from where the three friends are.

Danny sinks to his knees, losing just enough power that his hair changes back to his raven human hair. Sam and Tucker rush to his side and help him up.

"Are you all right, dude?" Tucker asks, concerned and relieved.

"Oww!" Danny responds, touching his mouth. Then smiling, he continues, "I think so. And how about that? The braces are off!"

Tucker, pointing to his glowing orange wristband, adds, "Great! And speaking of 'off', can you get this thing off of me?"

Sam chimes in, "And me? There's only one time of year that orange goes with black!"

Danny, lifting his own glowing orange wristband for them to see, moans, "I tried! My ghost rays had no effect!" Then he stops at the sudden idea. "My ghost rays? Hey, wait a minute!"

He materializes his 'wulf claws' and quickly slashes the wristbands off a very nervous Sam and Tucker, and then himself.

Sighing in relief, Tucker says, "Thank goodness! It's a good thing Skulker likes to brag. He told me that those wristbands were designed to make us vulnerable in the Ghost Zone."

"You don't have to say that twice!" Sam agrees. "I knew that there was a reason why we couldn't phase through the cage or our bonds."

Suddenly, Danny wills two bluish white rings around him to complete his full transformation into Danny Phantom. "I'm feeling much stronger now."

"That was quick!" Sam observes. "Usually your 'ghostly wail' really saps your strength."

"Yeah, I know. But it is odd that it didn't this time. I don't know why for sure, but maybe my encounter with Wulf has made me stronger? But who cares, so long as we can get out here sooner!"

"Good!" Tucker replies. "No telling how many more traps Skulker has in this place."

Danny answers, "Well, I can tell you that I've sampled enough of them to last me a long time. So, let's not wait to find out about any more. Let's get out of here!" He immediately soars upward, grabbing Tucker as he flies by. Tucker, in turn, grabs Sam's hand as Danny and he hover over her. With his free hand, Danny materializes his 'wulf claws', tears a hole in the dimension, and the three of them escape into the Real World.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I do not own any characters**.

Brace Yourself-Epilogue

Having missed a full day of school, Danny, Sam and Tucker are walking down the hallway at Casper High School the following day. Some of the other students passing them look oddly at Danny. He doesn't notice their curious stares or their disappointed whispers.

The trio finally reaches their designated picnic table outside the school and sit down to eat their lunch.

"Ow!" Danny says at his first bite.

"You all right?" Tucker manages to ask, even though his mouth is full.

"Yeah, my teeth are still a little tender, but I'll be all right." Then, with a sudden seriousness in his tone, Danny adds, "That was pretty scary what happened to us. Something I definitely won't forget….Oh! And speaking of 'forget', I forgot to tell you why I thought about using the vine to keep the braces from working." He takes a careful bite of his food.

"Yeah, you were going to tell us!" Tucker remembered.

"Well, remember how I told you about the frog-thingy vomit?" He reflexively spits out some of his yellow custard pudding with the memory. "Sorry, I can **still **taste it! Well, my braces didn't glow with that stuff on it. Or when I had vine juice in my mouth—yuck! I still taste **that**, too!—they didn't glow either. So I figured—and hoped—that ghost stuff touching other ghost stuff on my braces short-circuited the radio waves! Man, am I _**so**_ glad I was right!"

"So are we, dude!" Tucker agreed. Sam, who is still chewing, nods and smiles.

Danny smiles weakly and continues. "But like I said, I'm sorry I got you guys into so much danger...and trouble with your parents for missing school."

Tucker protests, "Dude, it wasn't your fault! That's part of the job, you know. Besides, my folks believed me when I told them that nothing important was happening anyway."

"Yeah," Sam adds wryly, "We **all **know that nothing important ever happens at school! And I agree with Tucker about all that happened at Skulker's Island. Did ya think it would always be as simple as putting the Box Ghost in the Fenton thermos?"-+-

Danny smiles at his friends' loyalty. Before he can comment, Tucker continues where Sam left off, "Yeah! And you wouldn't have discovered that cool new power! I can't wait for you to take me for a ride some time in your 'supersonic' mode!"

Danny chuckles and answers, "Any time, Tuck. That is, if I can ever do it again!"

"I'm sure you'll be able to," Sam chimes in. "Anything's possible now that your braces are off!"

Danny laughs and adds, "You're right! And not only that, but now, thanks to Skulker, my teeth are perfectly straight!" The three friends laugh as Danny shows off his cheesy, sparkling smile.

Just then, Dash and a bunch of his flunkies walk up to the friends. Dash demands, "Hey, Fenton! How dare you skip school and then show up without your braces! I still had a lotta mileage left, like, geez, at least a year's worth, of tormenting you about your braces!"

"As if that has stopped you before!" Danny quips back, and wearily adds, "Just go away, will ya, Dash? I don't have to explain anything to you!"

"You've gotta a lotta nerve saying that!" Dash retorts, drawing a fist and aiming straight for Danny's mouth. Danny instinctively makes his mouth intangible and Dash, of course, misses. But the force of Dash's swing comes full circle and Dash hits **himself** in the mouth!

"OWWWW!" Dash yells, covers his injured mouth, and runs away, along with his alarmed lackeys.

"Hey, Dash!" Danny calling after him, chuckles, "Maybe now **you** might need braces!"

Sam and Tucker frown and then smirk at him. Tucker then adds, " Hey, and just what happened to **your** braces?"

"Gee, I don't know. I think they got blasted to smithereens. But who cares?" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Meanwhile, at the far end of Skulker's Island, Skulker is lying on the ground, finally rousing from his encounter with Danny's 'ghostly wail'. Suddenly, his mouth lights up with electricity and he screams, "Oww!"

He immediately looks at his arm battle gear. The button that controls the braces is permanently stuck in the 'on' position. He then whips out a mirror from another part of his arm battle gear and after seeing his reflection, has no smile for his new braces.

THE END

-+-taken from "Reign Storm"

**A/N: Well, I'm sorry the story was so short, but I hope you liked it anyway. Believe me, I tried to "stretch it out" and it was a real challenge. As I told you before, this was originally a hopeful-but-never-submitted–cause-I'm-a-'nobody'-writer-and-didn't-have-the-nerve- teleplay, which describes the scenes, actions, and feelings separately from the dialogue. So, even though putting it all together into a narrative was hard, it was immensely fun, because the story did change a little, with a little more twist than the original teleplay. I'm now working on my next story, "A Mini-Review" which started as an unfinished teleplay, and ended up as a narrative, because I actually finished it with this website in mind. So, this will be an interesting piece to perfect, and so far, ta-da, it's not going to be short at all! And I still promise to complete any story I begin in a timely manner ... And I think y'all have figured out by now that I love action and quirky humor; and I love all the cool powers Danny has and could have, which is why the show has so much potential. Please keep writing to Nickelodeon to revitalize it. I do!! (And don't forget to keep it cordial!)….BTW: Not all my stories will have new powers for Danny, but I do think they're cool anyway! And Thank You again, especially for letting me have so much fun!! You phans rock, especially Angelus-alvus, crazyvi, and Wolfinson!! truephan**


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